THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST
[p. 226] THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST
I was thinking of the greatness of Christ; His greatness in the sense in which it is available to His people. Bearing in mind that no one knows the Son but the Father, I desire to speak of Him as presented so as to be available to us; and for that reason I have selected Solomon in these verses as a type of Christ. What I would remark at the outset is that in dealing with types of Christ, if we are to profit, we have to dismiss from our minds what is literal, and think only of what is typified, and who is typified, otherwise we shall lose what is for us; we shall miss the substance, and what God intends for us is the substance and not the shadow. We cannot live on shadows. We must have the substance, and in order to have that we must learn to exclude from our minds the literal type, and occupy ourselves with what is typified, so that our souls may be nourished.
Now Solomon is peculiarly a type of Christ in His personal greatness and royal magnificence as available to us, and so we find his history from the outset, from his infancy. The Holy Spirit dwells on him as a babe, occupying us with what would come out in him; that is, there are prophetic indications as to what should develop in him from the very outset. The name given to him by his father and that given to him by Jehovah pointed to what should come out in him in due course, and that was cherished in the minds of those who had faith until the time of his entering on his service when all should be verified. A long period ensued, for there is little said of him after his birth until he is introduced to us in view of his immediate service; but enough was said at the outset to show that he would be a man of feeling, a man of affection.
[p. 227] One of the first great evidences of this appears in the discerning by him of the mother of the child; he could discern the mother. What lay behind that was the exceptional parental care expended upon himself. He knew the tender touch of affection of his mother. He says of her that he was tender and beloved in her sight. Thus faith would be prepared for right feelings and sensibilities in him, and as these became needed, and they were needed in the history of God’s people in a peculiar way, they were there so that he could tell who was the mother of the child. She would not have the child divided; she would at all costs, even to herself, let the child live. She indicates to us thus what is so needed amongst the saints of God, the resolve that at all costs the child should live — truly the initial feature of a mother in Israel.
Solomon is later alluded to in Canticles as one whom his mother crowned in the day of his espousals, in the day of the gladness of his heart. Song of Songs 3:11. That thought therefore was well known to him — the man of such a mother — and he is sure to be a man of right feelings and sensibilities. Now you can see how this feeling so typified would show itself, as he had abundant opportunity and means to show what was in his heart. God gives us the opportunity and He prepares us for it, otherwise we should belie Him in what we do. The preparation must precede the opportunity.
Now you can see, dear brethren, how this, as I said, may be transferred — it is indeed intended to present to us the Lord Jesus Christ as He is now; that is, Solomon typifies finality, for he presents Christ as expressing the final thought of God. You will remember how the staves of the ark as set in the house by him were seen without, reminding us that the divine end in the ark of the covenant had been reached, and in what followed we get the feelings of God expressed towards His people. You may recall [p. 228] how, that incident being recorded, Solomon turned his face to the people; 2 Chronicles 6:3,4. It was a wonderful time, and it represents the present time, when a great system is set up in Christ, the great system known to faith, but which is real by the presence of the Spirit of God here on earth. So Solomon turned his face to the people — a beautiful picture of Christ, who turns His face to us, and that face remains turned in this attitude.
Then we read that all Israel stood, and Solomon blessed the people. How God would appeal to His people at the present time as to what there is in the face of Christ as having accomplished everything for God! All was finished here in type, and the ark is set in its place and the staves are drawn out and now he blesses God and he turns his face to the people, and all Israel stood and he blesses them. The present time is one in which the face of Christ in all that it is, is turned towards us, and there is blessing in it. And as all Israel stood, so God would seek to get the attention of His people now, that they might stand at attention, as it were.
Well now, the first great feature in these verses is food. This is always a matter of great importance, but it is seen here in a most striking manner, not simply the supply of it, but the quality of it, and note it was Solomon’s provision “for one day”. And see the richness of it — “thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl”. Now, beloved, what about this food? You see it is for one day. There is no suggestion of food being carried over for the next day, for we have living stock here; there is a fresh supply, for every day and it is of the very best quality.
Now, what about this, as to our eating? What is our fare? What about that menu of yours every day? This is Solomon’s menu. The suggestion is the richness of the supply for one day. There is volume here, but there is also quality and freshness; it is for every day. Solomon had made great provision for this, for he had, as we read earlier in this chapter, twelve superintendents nearly all of whom are referred to as son, “Ben-Hur”, and so forth. These are the men, some of them were married to Solomon’s daughters, charged with the supply; each had his portion of the land allotted so that it should yield its quota, and that there should be nothing wanting in the supply. Each supplied for his month, and then that supply was subdivided into days, so that there should be every day a fresh supply of the very best for Solomon’s table. One can tell where he is by examining the kind of fare he has, what food he has every day. Every one of us may have part in this daily supply; but then have we? It is available.
But now I pass on; but before doing so I would remind you that what I have been presenting corresponds with John’s presentation of Christ. What you get with John in regard of food is the best, both in quality and in the preparation of it. In the last chapter of his gospel we have the Lord raising the question with Peter and his company who had gone fishing, “Have ye anything to eat?” John 21:5. They had nothing. In the end of Luke the Lord said, “Have ye anything here to eat?” Luke 24:41. That was a different matter; they had something, but in the time I am referring to they had nothing, and the Lord said, “Cast the net at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. John 21:6. There is a right side and there is a left side, or rather, there is a right side and there is a wrong side. “Cast the net”, He said, “at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. And they found one hundred and fifty and three great fishes; you get not simply the number but the quality; they were great.
Now He says, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught”. John 21:10. But then as they arrived on the land they saw a fire of coals and fish on it and bread. The Lord Himself had prepared the meal. He provided the food, and the fire, and He laid the fish and the bread on it. It was all there, and we have to think of the quality, not only of the food but of the Lord’s preparation of it for them. Think of the attention of Christ to us, the service, how He enters into the needs of His people, not only to meet the need that we should have food, but we should have it properly prepared! There is a good deal in that, especially for those who minister. I speak of it now from the standpoint of the love of Christ providing for us, in serving us. One may inquire where one is, whether one has partaken of this wonderful supply. Then He says, “Come and dine”. John 21:12. It is not ‘come and eat’; it is not merely now a question of satisfying the appetite, but the dignity of it: “Come and dine”. Truly it is Solomon’s table as it is alluded to here.
I want now to speak of the wisdom of Solomon, another important feature in him. Indeed, it is that which marks him pre-eminently, that for which he prayed, and so he is in this sense a remarkable type of Christ as the wisdom of God. The Holy Spirit here enlarges on the fact that he was wiser than all men, and gives a list of the wisest of them, and then He goes on to tell us of the things he spoke about. You know, the present is a time of speaking; the Lord keeps on speaking. Here it is said that Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs and that his songs were a thousand and five, and that he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, he spoke also of cattle and of fowls and of creeping things and of fishes.
You say, What has all that to do with us? It has much to do with us. You will see it at once if you dismiss from your mind the literal type, and look [p. 231] stedfastly at the antitype, that is, Christ as He is in heaven. You begin to think of Him in the power of His speaking, in the variety of it, in the detail of it, in the substance of it. Can we for one moment think that He is silent with His many intelligent loved ones here on earth? He is not silent; He is continually speaking. Here we have three thousand proverbs. We have only a few of them recorded.
Again I refer to John, who presents to us Christ in His greatness. He refers to things which Jesus did: He said that if they were written one by one not even the world itself would contain the books that should be written. And then His discourses, conversations, sayings, etc.; every word of Christ was precious — pure gold. They are not all recorded, but we have enough recorded to indicate the character of His speaking, but think of what is not recorded and what He is speaking now. The Holy Spirit, He said to His disciples, should bring to their remembrance all things that He had said. Not a word would fall to the ground. If the words of Samuel did not fall to the ground, how much less the words of Jesus! And so you find three thousand proverbs. Do you think one of these proverbs was lost? The Holy Spirit knows how to carry forward and make effective in His own way every word of Christ. They are all for us, and how much we need proverbs. Proverbs are trite and wise sayings that are intended to fix themselves in our minds so that we might keep ourselves in the ways of righteousness. The opening of the book of Proverbs indicates what they mean, and the Holy Spirit brings every thought of Jesus, every word to the believer, hence it is not only what He has said, but what He is saying. He speaks through the Spirit now. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith”; it is not what He said but what He says. He brings to us what is needed, and these proverbs are needed.
[p. 232] Then there are the songs, that is to say, the outgoings of the best feelings. We have one of these songs called the Song of Songs, and what a song it is, what spiritual feelings it contains! The Holy Spirit would promote vehicles for spiritual feelings towards God and towards one another. Proverbs help us to regulate ourselves in the world of evil through which we are passing, but songs are vehicles for the outgoings of our feelings towards God and towards one another: “Speaking to yourselves”, it says, “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. Ephesians 5:19. Every spiritual song and every psalm and every hymn we must attribute to Christ; they come from Him. We need proverbs, as I have said, to regulate us in the world of evil; they work out in our souls in detail, and check the working of the flesh in us, and correct us and adjust us; but the songs become vehicles for the outgoing of the best feelings, the best spiritual feelings, and so the spiritual tone of the brethren is kept up by the songs. The proverbs are corrective, and adjustive, and preservative; the songs keep up the spiritual tone so that we are not drooping, nor impatient; we are bright and happy in a spiritual sense, “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. Ephesians 5:19.
Now the next thing Solomon spoke of was about trees, then about cattle, about fowls, about creeping things, about fishes. Is the Lord not occupied with different forms of life, variety of life? Surely He is, and He speaks about it. Let nobody suppose that he is omitted. The Lord makes His own comments about you. (Compare Revelation 2 and 3.) Take trees. Solomon speaks about them in his song; one of them indeed is used as a type of Christ Himself — the apple-tree among the trees of the wood. The apple-tree denotes superiority. That must apply to Christ in the most absolute way; but then superiority in a [p. 233] relative way may be found here. There are the more excellent things of which we speak; Paul exhorts to “judge of and approve the things that are more excellent”. Philippians 1:10.
The Lord would speak of every form and variety of life, so He spoke about trees. Each of us comes in for some comment. How would He comment upon me? What would He emphasise? Were I to hear Solomon speaking about a cedar, how he would bring out the quality of it! What is any form of life save as it suggests something of God? “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made”. Romans 1:20.
In the vegetable kingdom we see there are features which suggest God; and so it is that the trees in Scripture are transferred as figures of christians, and the Lord speaks about them. Does it ever occur to you that He makes comments about you? He does. Jehovah said to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” Job 1:8, Job 2:3. Then He speaks of Job as a perfect man, a man that eschewed evil. Then, too, when the Lord looked at the woman in Luke 7:44 He said, “Seest thou this woman?” He comments upon her; He challenges Simon as to her. He looks too upon Mary at His feet. “She”, He says, “hath chosen that good part”. Luke 10:42. He comments upon every one of us. What am I doing? Where am I? What can He say about me? There are the cedars of Lebanon, those who stand out in their spiritual dignity, and then he comes down the series of trees till he comes to the hyssop. Scripture says of it that it springs out of the wall. There is nothing said of the hyssop in Genesis. It is not alluded to there as a growth out of the earth; it is alluded to here as a growth springing out of the wall. There is not much to nourish in a wall, but it springs out of it. What would Solomon say about that? He would say [p. 234] something significant. He would say something that would illuminate us, and so it is as the Lord looks over His people in His perfect intelligence, and in His perfect love, He comments upon them.
Then he spoke of cattle. Thus in the animal kingdom there are representations given which suggest what is of God. Cattle are alluded to as having been created on the sixth day of creation, and they are said to be living souls, that is, they have affection. Trees do not denote the saints from that point of view; they denote dignity — stateliness; but cattle have souls — they have affection. The Lord comments upon us from that point of view. What affection have I got? Is my love restricted to the locality where I am, or to the saints I am acquainted with? Well, He values that. Is my love like God’s? The Colossians and Ephesians are said to have had love to all saints.
In one’s experience in prayer-meetings, I speak simply and practically, one notices the restricted, limited area covered in our prayers — prayers that are answered, true enough, but they are limited. They are not nearly extensive enough in their scope, nor inclusive enough; they are not inclusive of all saints. God would speak to us in this respect; He comments upon those who had love to all saints. Well, Solomon spake of cattle, the different species and their features.
Then, too, we read that he spake of fowls. There are clean and unclean fowl. The clean fowl in the type would represent a christian who is independent of the world; he loathes it and is independent of it as having the Spirit of God. An unclean fowl suggests a person who has this world’s means and is thus independent; he is a man who holds his head high, being independent, and looks loftily because of what he has of this world’s means. The income one has in the Spirit of God enables one to take heavenly ground, being superior to this world; but being thus great, he can go along with the lowly. He is not haughty.
[p. 235] Then he spoke of fishes. The Lord comments upon us in our movements against the course of this world. Some drift with it, for instance, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” 2 Timothy 4:10; it is this present world. Look at the superiority of the coming world! Demas could not wait for it. He loved the present one, the one that is near at hand, not far away. He did not go against the course of this present world; he went with it. One might multiply illustrations of the Lord’s comments upon saints from this figure as to whether they are going against the stream in the power of the Spirit of God, or going with it. God has no pleasure in the latter. “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him”.
Then there are the creeping things. What can I say about them? They certainly do not speak of anything dignified, but are suggestive of persons grovelling down upon this earth, like the man with the muck-rake in Pilgrim’s Progress, but the Lord takes note of them. Solomon spoke about these creeping things.
Now all these things are very practical, but what I have said brings to light the greatness of Christ in His availability to us, in His interest in us, and in His care for us. At the present moment the Lord is as interested in us as He was when He arose and visited the brethren, and as He was when He went up to heaven. We are told that He appeared to Cephas, that He appeared to the twelve, to above five hundred brethren at once, then to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to Paul. He is as interested in us now as He was then. I would that we might all know it better and might draw more upon His interest in us, partaking, too, of His marvellous spiritual provision for us, and thus be independent of this present evil world.